Stepping out publicly for the first time since confirming his split with wife of seven years, Heidi Klum, Seal stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show to promote the release of his new album, and open up on his recent split.

The "Kiss from a Rose" singer, who was still wearing his wedding ring, tells Ellen of the recent breakup:

"I think we were shocked. You go into these things with the greatest intentions when you say 'I do' and you say '’til death do us part.' Those vows hold value. They are not just words.

These things happen. We pretty much said how we feel and made it clear in the release statement. But, for intensive purposes of this show, you just grow apart after awhile.

You try and you work through it and the thing that you quickly realize when you are married and you become a parent you do the best that you can. It makes you actually appreciate your parents a lot more."

Seal went on to praise the Victoria's Secret Angel, confessing:

"The thing that I’m most proud about this great woman who married (and I really do mean that from the bottom of my heart), is that together she has given me four incredible gifts…four beautiful children.

She still, in my opinion, the most wonderful woman in the world. I think our priority was to remain civil and do this thing with dignity. We still very much love each other.

It’s not a question of we were never to follow suit of some break-up or separations that you hear about, especially in our industry. It’s a shame. To say that neither of us were grieving would be an out and out lie (and I don’t mind telling you that).

I think the operative here is that we are civil to each other and we both have a tremendous amount of respect and love and we try and do this with as much dignity as we possibly can. And of course, when you have four children, you hope and pray that the rest of the world will respect that we have four children and that their little hearts are at stake too."

The Grammy winner later discussed the reason why he decided to keep his wedding ring on, revealing:

"I think it’s just pretty much a token of how I feel about this woman. We have eight years. Eight wonderful years together.

Just because we have decided to separate doesn’t necessarily mean you take off your ring and you’re no longer connected to that person. We will be connected in many ways ‘til the rest of our lives…. though our children and also through this tremendous admiration, respect and love that we have for each other.

Will we wear the ring for the rest of our lives? Who knows? But right now it feels really comfortable on my hand so I have intentions of taking it off anytime soon."

The German supermodel reportedly filed for divorce from Seal due to his "hard partying ways" and "volcanic temper."

A statement released by the couple on Monday said: "While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul-searching we have decided to separate. We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart. This is an amicable process and protecting the well-being of our children remains our top priority, especially during this time of transition. We thank our family, friends, and fans for their kind words of support. And for our children’s sake, we appreciate you respecting our privacy."